Colorectal carcinoma is a malignant neoplastic disease. There is a high incidence of colorectal carcinoma in the Western world, particularly in the United States. Tumors of this type often metastasize through lymphatic and vascular channels. Many patients with colorectal carcinoma eventually die from this disease. In fact, it is estimated that 62,000 persons in the United States alone die of colorectal carcinoma annually.
To date, systemic therapies and chemotherapies have been developed for the treatment of colorectal cancer. However, no therapies have exhibited sufficient anti-tumor activity to prolong the survival of colorectal carcinoma patients with metastatic disease with any degree of reliability. As a result, a need still exists to develop methods for the successful treatment of colorectal carcinoma.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide methods for reducing the effects of colon cancers.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method of delivering genetic material to DNA of colon cancer cells.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of delivering anti-cancer agents to nuclei of colon cancer cells.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide antibodies, including monoclonal antibodies, humanized antibodies, chimeric antibodies, trimeric antibodies, heteromeric antibodies and single chain antibodies which are useful in the treatment of colon cancer.